About TASPO

TASPO

TASPO is a weekly trade newspaper for horticulture in all its specialist branches, published by the Haymarket Media GmbH and Co. KG of Braunschweig and the market leader among the German-speaking region's horticultural press. Sold by subscription, it is the market leader in the German-speaking region and the oldest horticultural weekly: it first appeared in 1867 under the title Thalackers Allgemeine Samen- und Pflanzen-Offerte. The paper serves production horticulture, cemetery gardening, garden and landscape construction, tree nurseries, and horticultural retail. The TASPO umbrella brand extends to specialist titles such as TASPO Baumzeitung, TASPO Gartendesign, and TASPO Gartenmarkt, and since 2006 the TASPO Awards have honored the industry's outstanding achievements each year. Since 2006 the TASPO Awards have honored outstanding achievements in horticulture each year.

Overview

TASPO appears weekly as the newspaper for the green market, addressing the full breadth of professional horticulture. Its readership spans the specialist branches: production horticulture, cemetery gardening, garden and landscape construction, tree nurseries, and horticultural retail trade. More than a quarter of copies are sold in North Rhine-Westphalia, the state with the densest horticultural industry, and the readership is concentrated among business owners, managers, and specialists of horticultural enterprises.

The paper's editorial program combines industry news, market reporting, business management, production technology, association coverage, and the awards and foundation activities that make the TASPO brand the industry's central institution. It reports on the economic situation of the branches, on innovations in cultivation and technology, on labor and training questions, and on the political framework conditions, from plant-protection regulation to energy policy for greenhouse operations. The TASPO Awards, presented annually since 2006, honor outstanding achievements in horticulture, and the TASPO Foundation, formerly the Isolde Voigt Foundation named after the former co-partner of the Thalacker publishing house, supports the "Young Science" prize in cooperation with the German Horticultural Science Society, recognizing scientific work from all horticultural disciplines.

The umbrella brand extends the weekly's reach into specialist publications: TASPO Baumzeitung for the tree nursery and arboriculture sector, TASPO Gartendesign as the practice magazine for garden and landscape construction, and TASPO Gartenmarkt, alongside titles such as g&v, Deutsche Baumschule, Friedhofskultur, and Gärtnerbörse, plus the customer magazines gkTraumGARTEN and Mein Paradies. The sold circulation was reported at 8,496 copies in the third quarter of 2017, with a total circulation of 9,419, of which 7,917 went to subscribers, a subscriber-heavy distribution typical of a true trade newspaper.

History

TASPO's lineage reaches back to 1867, when it first appeared as Thalackers Allgemeine Samen- und Pflanzen-Offerte, a seed and plant offer sheet that grew into the German-speaking region's oldest horticultural weekly, predating the German Empire itself. Through the decades it accompanied the professionalization of horticulture: from the nurseries and seed businesses of the 19th century through the rise of greenhouse production, the mechanization of the 20th century, the Europeanization of the plant trade, and the modern industry's concerns with sustainability, energy efficiency, and climate adaptation.

The paper was long published by Thalacker Medien before becoming part of Haymarket Media GmbH and Co. KG, the Braunschweig-based publishing house that today produces the TASPO family of titles, carrying a publishing tradition of more than 150 years into the present. The publisher's presence at the IPM, the world's leading horticulture trade fair in Essen, is a fixture: the TASPO team traditionally exhibits in Hall 2, advising visitors and presenting the house's specialist titles, which can be tested free of charge and without obligation.

In 2006 the TASPO Awards were launched, creating the industry's annual gala for outstanding achievements, and the TASPO Foundation's "Young Science" prize connected the paper to horticultural research. Campaigns such as the search for the TASPO Climate Hero at the IPM 2020, inviting fair visitors to become climate heroes by cycling for tree planting with one tree per cycled kilometer, show the brand's engagement with the sustainability questions that increasingly define the industry.

Coverage and Content

TASPO's weekly coverage follows the horticultural year and the industry's economic cycles, from the spring bedding-plant season through the autumn nursery trade. Market reporting tracks prices, demand, and the structural trends of the branches, from the consolidation of production businesses to the growth of garden and landscape construction and the changing consumer demand for green products. Production coverage addresses cultivation technology, energy efficiency in greenhouses, plant protection, and the innovations that the IPM exhibitors present each year, with the TASPO Spezial video format reporting directly from nurseries on topics such as shading and darkening systems.

Business management coverage addresses the questions of running a horticultural enterprise: labor recruitment and training, succession, investment, marketing, and the energy costs that weigh heavily on greenhouse operations. The paper covers the associations and organizations of the industry, the political framework from Berlin and Brussels, and the fairs and events of the sector. Sustainability has become a running theme, from climate-adapted products to the industry's contribution to climate protection.

The specialist titles under the umbrella deepen the coverage: TASPO Baumzeitung for tree nurseries and arboriculture, TASPO Gartendesign as the hands-on practice magazine for landscape gardeners, TASPO Gartenmarkt for the retail side, and the long-running titles Deutsche Baumschule, Friedhofskultur, and Gärtnerbörse for their specialist audiences. The TASPO Awards coverage, the foundation's science prize, and the special publications on topics such as sustainability round out an editorial program that serves the industry across its professional, scientific, and celebratory dimensions.

Organization and Ownership

TASPO is published by the Haymarket Media GmbH and Co. KG of Braunschweig, formerly Thalacker Medien. The publishing house is the Braunschweig home of the TASPO family of titles: TASPO, TASPO Gartendesign, TASPO Baumzeitung, g&v, Deutsche Baumschule, Friedhofskultur, and Gärtnerbörse, plus the customer magazines gkTraumGARTEN and Mein Paradies. The editor-in-chief is Lorenz Wieland, and the paper's ISSN is 0177-5006, marking it in the library catalogues as the German-speaking horticulture's weekly of record.

The TASPO Foundation, formerly the Isolde Voigt Foundation named after the former co-partner of the Thalacker publishing house, supports horticultural science through the "Young Science" prize awarded in cooperation with the German Horticultural Science Society. Financial details of the paper's operations are not publicly confirmed beyond the circulation figures published by IVW.

Digital Presence

TASPO's digital home is taspo.de, where the weekly publishes industry news and the content of its specialist titles, extending the subscription newspaper's reach to the industry's digital daily routine. The publisher's media data for print and online, valid from January 2026, documents the brand's cross-media offering, and all of the house's magazines are IVW-audited. The TASPO Spezial video format extends the brand to YouTube, with reports from horticultural businesses on topics such as energy efficiency, produced by the Haymarket editorial team.

The publisher maintains a presence at the industry's leading events, from the IPM in Essen, where the TASPO team traditionally exhibits in Hall 2, to the TASPO Awards gala, and its newsletters serve the branches with regular updates. Social media channels extend the brand's community functions, connecting the weekly's readership of horticultural professionals between issues. The combination of the weekly print newspaper, the specialist magazines, the digital platforms, the video formats, and the awards gives TASPO a multi-channel presence at the center of the German-speaking horticultural industry, continuing a publishing tradition that began in 1867 and that has made the paper the industry's indispensable weekly.